Microsoft founder Bill Gates, along with a string of high-profile executives including Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Alibaba Group Holding Chairman Jack Ma, are investing more than $1 billion in a clean energy fund.

The fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), will finance emerging energy research to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to near-zero.

The fund’s investors include Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of SoftBank Group, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.

The fund is an investment vehicle of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, an informal club of private investors and institutions from around the world, who have agreed to pump seed money into energy research and development.
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